Handling non-rendered fields or parts in the admin in edit or create mode.

[giannik]

There are cases when you are creating or editing a content item that you do not want to render specific fields or parts in the admin.
For example, I have some secret fields in my content type and I've created various alternate templates for specific roles so that these secret fields are not rendered.
You can also achieve the same thing with placement rules that do not render fields or parts based on custom logic.
The problem is that when update is performed for the content item the field is still updated even though it is not rendered, overriding the existing values in the secret fields.

One approach to solve this is to add for all fields and parts an IsRendered property like a flag on the viewmodel to avoid the update call in the driver:

example code for textfield :

//viewmodel 
 public class EditTextFieldViewModel
    {
      public bool IsRendered { get; set; }
    }		



//view
\OrchardCore.Modules\OrchardCore.ContentFields\Views\TextField.Edit.cshtml
<input type="hidden" asp-for="IsRendered" value="true"/>

texfield driver
  public override async Task<IDisplayResult> UpdateAsync(TextField field, IUpdateModel updater, UpdateFieldEditorContext context)
        {
            var viewModel = new EditTextFieldViewModel();
            if (await updater.TryUpdateModelAsync(viewModel, Prefix, f => f.IsRendered))
            {
                if (!viewModel.IsRendered) {
                      return Edit(field, context);
                }
//normal update 
}

While this works it requires changing the code for every field and part.

I'm wondering if there may be a better approach

If the community is willing I can submit a PR with this suggestion for all the known contentfields and parts

[hishamco]

The problem is that when update is performed for the content item the field is still updated even though it is not rendered, overriding the existing values in the secret fields.

Good point, what about adding a property in the ContentField and doing the check in one place?

@MikeAlhayek do you have a better idea

[MikeAlhayek]

@giannik
Why are you using content-fields for this? You should create a custom content Part via code and add a custom content part driver that does the logic you want.

public class CustomSecretPart : ContentPart 
{
    public string SecretThing { get; set; }
}

public class CustomSecretPartDisplayDriver : ContentPartDisplayDriver<CustomSecretPart>
{

    public override UpdatingAsync(CustomSecretPart part, ....)
    {
          part.SecretThing = "abc";
     }
}

services.AddContentPart<CustomSecretPart>().UseDisplayDriver<CustomSecretPartDisplayDriver>();

Then in the display driver on updating, you can securely set the secret for the role.

[hishamco]

He doesn't want to show the field nor updating its value while updating (when using placement)

[MikeAlhayek]

@hishamco
Placement is just a virtual thing. Fields will still have to be validated, updated and saved. Content fields are not good for this custom scenario, Instead he should move all the fields that that are used for the secret things into custom part so he can control their behavior virtually and functionally. he can use the display driver to generate values, show anything he wants (if any) and do the custom logic he is after.

[hishamco]

Got it, can we move this to discussion, I think the answer credit should goes to Mike :)

[giannik]

the secret field is just an example.
I dont want to write code for every single use case .
i want to tell it if the field is not rendered , ignore it from processing when updating.
The example with the IsRendered flag covers it , just that i have to do it for every field. So im wondering if it can be done more centrally.

[giannik]

#13349